Chapter Seven
By Wednesday Castle knew absolutely everything there was to know about the impending Beckett-Fitzgerald nuptials. Which, in all honesty, was not that much—at least, insofar as concrete plans. He knew a lot of hypotheticals and a lot of plans that began with "If we can make it work…" but, mostly, he knew every detail about Kate's vision of a perfect wedding day.
As she had spent the majority of the previous decade as "one of the guys," Castle could not think of a one single conversation the two of them had regarding weddings aside from those surrounding his mother's nuptials. Even then, the topics were abstract at best. He recalled her saying that she never wanted anything like his mother's circus-themed wedding, but that was hardly specific to her; after that fiasco, Castle imagined many if not all of the guests shared that opinion.
During their conversations, Castle learned that Kate preferred medium-sized weddings around a hundred and twenty or a hundred and fifty guests. This, of course, was not what she would be receiving, as she explained to him that her and William's guest list was approximately forty people. When his brow furrowed and he asked if she would be ok with the smaller affair, she waived her hand casually at him and insisted it was fine. Then, she joked the only thing she'd really miss out on was more presents.
The reason for their limited guest list, Castle discovered, was due to physical space. William wished to marry at his family's castle and Kate had no objections to this; from the pictures she saw, the place was like a dream. It did, however, have limited space for large events. In the past they discovered that while fifty seats fit, it really was much too tight to be comfortable, so they needed to keep their list as close to forty as they could.
Kate accepted this and rationalized it by saying it was just as well. If her wedding was going to be in New York, she would have invited coworkers or casual friends, but she could hardly expect such people to fly all the way to England for her wedding. Thus, it made much more sense to keep their guest list small with just family and very close friends.
Castle heard her explanation and understood it; it was logical—practical even, but he also knew her face told a different story. Kate, he knew, was far from being as showy or extravagant as his mother yet he also knew how difficult it would be to keep her list of invitees at a maximum of twenty—including her father, aunt and cousins, assuming they were all able to attend on short notice.
While adding "incomplete guest list" to his mental list of reasons why this wedding was absurd and needed to be stopped, Castle soon found himself with several more reasons including the fact that Kate would be unable to have a DJ at the reception like she wanted. In fact, there wasn't going to be a reception in the traditional—well, American—sense at all. Instead, the "reception" merely consisted of a very nice dinner followed by a little bit of dancing.
According to Kate, William's parents weren't much for throwing a party-'til-dawn affair and were merely doing a bit of music to placate the tradition. Naturally, Castle protested this absurdity, but Kate said there was nothing she could do about it. William's parents were gracious enough to host their wedding and she remained grateful to them for that. If not for their generosity, they probably would not have been able to find a venue with such short notice.
With this comment, Castle could not stop himself from suggesting that perhaps it would make more sense for them to postpone the nuptials. Though he maintained a light, helpful-sounding tone, he received a scowl from Kate. They were getting married August first and that was that.
Though he still could not understand why she felt the need to rush, Castle did not continue his protest; he knew there would be no point in it. Pushing any further might push him right out of the maid of honor spot. Absurd as it was, he needed to keep one foot in the wedding to take every available opportunity to point out its ridiculousness. Though, as he learned, he needed to do so more delicately; less directly.
Deciding he'd heard enough about floral arrangements and traditional British wedding foods to last a lifetime, Castle decided on a different approach. He extended an invitation to William via Kate to attend his weekly Wednesday evening basketball game with the guys. This, he decided, was a brilliant scheme and all part of his plan to keep the enemy close. With Kevin and Javier on his side, he could easily pick William apart and discover more reasons why he and Kate simply weren't meant to be.
That Wednesday, Castle met William outside the gym to which they all belonged. After signing William in using one of his guest passes, Castle led the way down to the men's locker room where they left their bags. While waiting for the other two to arrive, Castle and William sat together on the bleachers at the side of the basketball courts.
"I just wanted to thank you for everything you're doing for the wedding. Kate says you're a lifesaver."
Castle smiled at the Brit. Kate was speaking his praises to her fiancé. Good, that was very good. Maybe the more she talked about him William would realize that Castle was the one Kate was meant to be with, not him. Then, perhaps he would bow out like a gentleman and return to England. Though he realized this scenario probably had a less than one percent chance of working out, Castle saw no harm in keeping it in the back of his mind.
"Well, Kate is my best friend—anything I can do to help, I will."
William gave Castle a small smile before reaching down to adjust the laces on his sneaker. "Bit odd, isn't it?"
"What is?"
William looked up at the writer. "Men and women best friends. Is that common in America?"
"No, that's pretty unique to Kate and Castle." Castle turned his head to see the smirking Javier approaching, Kevin a few steps behind him.
After shooting his friend a perturbed look, Castle said, "It is not unique to us. I admit it's not common but we are hardly the only male/female best friends in this country."
"Well no that's statistically impossible," Kevin said wisely. "But I bet there aren't too many."
Castle shot his friends a "You're not helping" expression while William asked, "You met in university, right? I'm sorry—you call it college."
Castle resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the tone William used when correcting himself. It felt like he was "dumbing down" his comment for the Americans, when they clearly would have understood his meaning if he'd left the statement as it was. "Yes, we did. Her junior year; our senior."
"You all met then?"
Castle shook his head. "No we already knew each other," he said, gesturing to himself, Kevin and Javier. "It's when we met Kate."
William nodded. Then, after a moment of thought he asked, "Was that around the time her mother died?"
Castle pressed his lips together at this comment. If there was one topic he knew his best friend avoided more than any other, it was that of her deceased mother. Clearly, the topic would have been impossible to avoid when wedding planning with her fiancé, though it either was not discussed in much detail or William hadn't paid much attention for him to have incorrectly placed the timeframe. Castle hoped for the later.
"It was about a year and a half after her mother's death," Castle explained.
"Right, right. Such a shame…she died in some sort of accident, right?"
Castle's fists clenched. Now he was sure of it—the bastard hadn't even paid attention to the most important story Kate would ever tell him! "It was murder, actually."
William's eyes widened. "Murder!?"
Kevin stepped in between the two men. Looking up at the Brit he said, "Forgive our dramatic friend. Kate's mother was killed in a hit and run accident; the driver responsible was never found."
William nodded solemnly. "Right…bloody shame. Shall we get to playing then?"
While the other three headed towards the closest free net, Castle hung back, his jaw slack with horror. He could not believe the casual way in which William had brushed off Kate's mother's death? "Bloody shame"?! More like goddamned tragedy and the single defining moment of her early adult years!
Castle still vividly remembered the night he heard the real story—the full story—behind her mother's passing. Several weeks had passed since that fateful night he helped Kate with her drunken, passed-out father. Castle had not spoken a word about the event to Kate in the encounters since. Two years of knowing her taught him one universal truth about her: Kate Beckett could teach Fort Knox a thing or two about safety and protection if the way she kept her personal life under wraps was any indication.
Knowing this, Castle was absolutely stunned when she showed up at his apartment one evening and the whole tale came spilling out. She'd just come from her father's after he'd summoned her with yet another drunken phone call. She explained that she'd emptied his bottle of scotch in the sink for the hundredth time, gave him a bottle of water and sent him to bed. Knowing that her roommate had a date over, she knew she couldn't go home so she wandered around the city until she somehow managed to make her way to Castle's.
Being a good friend—not to mention a gentlemen—he invited her in and offered her a bed for the night. She'd only been sitting beside him on the couch for a few minutes before the tears started. Having never seen her cry before, he was stunned at first, but then did his best to comfort her.
The way she said, "I just don't know how much more of this I can take," felt like a knife driving directly into his heart. He knew from that moment he never wanted to see her cry again—at least, not from being hurt. He vowed in that moment to do whatever he could to prevent any future distress.
As she sobbed, she explained that two and a half years prior her mother had been returning home from a late meeting at her law offices when her car had been broadsided by a driver who ran a red light. Though there was one witness, the driver of the black SUV was never found. Her mother was rushed from the hospital, but never regained consciousness and, twenty hours after the incident, succumbed to her injuries.
Castle had been stunned, not realizing Johanna Beckett's death had been so sudden and violent. He didn't ask any questions; he merely held her close and rubbed her back until she fell asleep. Then, he'd taken her to his bed to sleep so she didn't have to wake up confused and alone in a bedroom she'd never been in before. In the morning, she thanked him for his kindness and asked that he not talk about the prior night's conversation with anyone. Though he wished to tell Kevin and Javier, as such an event explained a great deal about Kate's personality and standoffish tendencies, he obliged her request. (Thankfully, she had told the boys on her own several months later, though not in as great a detail as she told Castle.)
Though the night was clouded with a significant amount of sadness, Castle recalled it as one of his favorite memories with Kate. Her mother's death was, of course, tragic and he never wanted her to be in unnecessary pain, but for the first time that night, stroking her back and telling her softly that everything would be ok, he realized that she was his best friend. Eight years of hindsight told him he probably realized his feelings were a bit stronger than that, but he hadn't seen it at the time. Maybe if he had, things would have been different. Maybe if he had, he would not be about to join a basketball game with Kate's fiancé.
On the bright side, he rationalized to himself, William had never played basketball before and thus his playing was bound to be…well, hilarious.
"Dude." Javier hissed to his writer friend the moment the Brit had taken his soap and towel to the showers and was thus out of earshot. "Did you see him dunk that ball? He was like Air Jordan!"
"More like Larry Bird," Kevin corrected his friend's reference.
"Trying not to think about that, actually." Castle snipped in response. William's first time playing basketball his ass… The guy was a ringer! Either that or he had the best case of beginner's luck Castle had ever seen.
Still muttering to himself about how the William-and-Kevin team trounced his own (mostly due to the Brit's dunking skills) Castle made his way to the large shower room. Typically, Castle's plan in the large room full of steam and men in their birthday suits was to get in, soap up, and rinse off as efficiently as possible. Avoiding eye contact was a must.
Despite his well perfected routine, Castle found himself walking in face to face with William, who was soaping up, his back to the closest shower head. Unintentionally, Castle caught a glimpse of the Brit's full body and immediately wished he hadn't as William was unquestionably well-endowed. "You've got to be fucking kidding me," the writer muttered under his breath as he hung his towel on the closest free hook.
Even more unfortunate for Castle was that, at that moment, the only free shower head was the one right beside William's. Stepping up, Castle cranked on the water. Just as he silently hoped William would slip on soap, fall and knock himself unconscious, Castle heard him say, "Can I ask you something?"
Forcing a smile, Castle turned to him and said, "Sure; why not." His tone was snippy and, quite honestly, he didn't care.
"Well, I'm curious," William said, turning to face the spray once more. "Did you and Kate ever…"
As his voice had trailed off without completing the thought, Castle questioned, "Ever what?"
"Have a courtship?"
Castle's brow furrowed as he tried to translate the Brit's word to American English. "A courtship? Like dating?" When William bobbed his head, Castle answered. "No, no we never dated."
"Really? Never?"
Castle shook his head. Why was that so hard to believe? Furthermore, if Kate was engaged to him, why did it even matter?"
As thought a lightbulb had gone off in his thick skull, William's eyes widened and he nodded his head. "Oh, I get it. Maid of honor. You're into the lads then, eh? Cheers mate."
Castle nearly choked while Kevin and Javier, who had entered the shower and were standing nearby, began to snigger. "Wha—no. No, no, no. I'm very much into women. Very, very much," he stressed. "Kate and I…we've just known each other for a long time and…we're better as friends," he said, though he hoped very much that wasn't the truth.
Accepting this answer, William nodded his head. "She's not your type. Understood."
Fifteen minutes later after they'd patted themselves dry and redressed, the four men reconvened out on the sidewalk, where they bid goodbye to William, who was meeting Kate for dinner. As the three friends walked towards the nearest subway station, Javier was the first to break the silence. "Well, I guess we know why Kate's been so giddy lately."
"Why's that?" Castle questioned without even thinking.
Javier blinked at him. "Uhh…because her fiancé has a huge dick."
Despite the ninety degree temperature, Castle shivered. "Thanks for that."
"You don't think that's the reason she's marrying him, do you?" Kevin asked.
Javier shrugged. "Dunno. Maybe. Maybe Kate's all about the-"
"GUYS!" Castle bellowed, silencing his two companions. "I really, really do not need to be thinking about Kate and William…" He gestured wildly with his hands. "…doing it—that."
"Doing it?" Javier parroted. "What are you? A fourteen year old girl?"
Castle grumbled. "Just…drop it, okay? Please?"
Kevin and Javier held up their hands in defeat while Castle walked ahead of them and hopped onto the waiting subway car silent hoping his urge to vomit would soon subside.
A/N: Since many of you have not seen it, I'll clarify - the basketball/locker room scenes are from the movie
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